Asking The Big Questions on Anime and Manga

Under The Hammer – ‘Dropkick On My Devil!’ Episode 10 Review

So what happens in this episode? You know, this show more than probably any other this season never fails to surprise me, even if it’s in a little way.

Keep reading til the end to get context for this image!

Yeah, how so? Well the last few weeks this show has been showing off the fact that it’s apparently the most ‘woke’ anime of the Summer 2018 series, what with Episode 8 bringing up such tough to swallow topics as Japan being 144th in the world for gender equality and Episode 9 basically being a complete metaphor for the class systems in Japan, not to mention the continuing plot-line of Pekola’s battle with homelessness. This show isn’t afraid to go places most comedy shows don’t bother.

It’s nice to see Pekola happy sometimes!

And what lofty subject matter does the show seek to bring up this week? Well nothing quite as far-reaching and pervasive as the previous topics but we do get a rather unflinching look into the dangers of idol-worship and hyper-aggressive fans—again courtesy of Pekola’s storyline.

So what happens then? Okay so basically Pekola takes a job as being a bodyguard for fellow fallen angel turned pop idol Poporon and while she’s performing a song a crazed fan storms the stage with a hammer and threatens to “kill the bitch” for “being cold on Twitter” and “not answering his R-rated questions” towards her.

Poporon makes a cute idol!

And how’s the scene portrayed? Well this is still a comedy—I’m not going to go an say this is some incisive critique on toxic fandom and the fragility of the male ego. As Pekola dives in the way of his hammer-swings they make squeaky sound effects as they hit her—I’m not sure if that was the joke or whether the scene played too dark with ‘realistic’ sound effects. But she is physically attacked and ends up in hospital from her injuries so it’s not like this was to be a wholly comedic scene either. It brings up serious issues, it just treats it semi-seriously because—well that’s the nature of this show.

It looks darker than it actually comes across, thanks to those squeaky sound effects.

Okay, fair enough? Anything else worth mentioning? Jashin-Chan continues to see-saw between being tolerable and amusing and being an absolute c-word. The final segment softens her a little and at least shows ~some~ personal growth but she’s still the worst thing about the show. Though I must admit the in-between-segment gags of her dressing up as Annie from Attack On Titan and Soma from Food Wars were pure brilliance. Ultimately though, regardless of whether or not the social commentary is pulled off successfully or not I’m at least glad for it existing—if nothing else it makes for interesting review fodder!